On Occasion
by Dirty Robber
Summary: A little bit of B&B after Two Bodies in the Lab


**BONES –On Occasion**

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or anything else associated with the show.

**Author's Note: This is my first Bones fanfic, so please….be gentle. This one-shot fic takes places after "The Man on the Fairway" and "Two Bodies in the Lab". Hope you enjoy.**

"_I see men, I date them….and on occasion, I even sleep with them."_

Temperance Brennan's words echoed through Agent Seely Booth's head as he watched her exam the remains of a young murder victim. When did the thought of her being with someone begin to cause his heart to drop to his stomach?

Suddenly he noticed that she was staring at him, her brow furrowed. "Booth? Are you listening?"

"Yeah, of course I am, Bones." He smiled at her, hoping that she would continue with her findings.

Brennan crossed her arms, tilted her head slightly and studied him. Booth felt a sharp jab in his side as Angela laughed and stated the obvious. "You're so busted."

Booth chuckled as he looked at Brennan. "Sorry, Bones…I haven't had much sleep lately." He noticed her expression soften.

"Do you still have a lot of pain?" she questioned.

He saw the guilt flash through her eyes. _"I'm sorry Booth. It should be me in that bed."_

Booth wanted nothing more than to go to her and comfort her as he had in the warehouse. He looked at Zack and Hodgins before answering. "Nah, no more pain. Just a small bout of insomnia, that's all."

It wasn't a flat-out lie. He'd spent the last few weeks in his bed, tossing and turning, dreaming of Temperance Brennan. It began as nightmares where he had not arrived at the warehouse in time to save her. Nightmares where she was lifeless in his arms and he couldn't say all things that he had intended to say. Those were the nights that he woke up scared and feeling lost. After the nightmares had subsided, the dreams where he told her—and then showed her—how he felt about her began.

"Or maybe you've been eating too much pudding again," Hodgins chimed in his two cents.

Booth grinned and pointed at the squint. "Funny. Funny man with the funny little car."

"Well, it _is_ a 'mini'-cooper," Zack quipped. He placed his hand in the air in front of Booth's face.

"What the hell? Why's your hand in my face?" Booth looked at the young man with a small amount of annoyance.

"Aren't you going to smack it? Isn't that what we guys do?" Zack looked around at everyone.

"I'm gonna smack something…" Booth grumbled.

"Oh my god," Angela gasped. "Flowers!" She made a beeline to the delivery man she spotted walking into the lab. Booth pulled Zack's hand away so he could see what Angela had gone all "girlie" over. He watched as she signed for the flowers and walked back to the platform with the huge bouquet.

"So which lucky guy sent those?" Booth teased the dark-haired artist.

"I don't know…since they're for Bren. You'll have to ask her." Angela practically shoved the card into Brennan's hands.

"What do you mean they're mine?" Brennan was in shock. She'd never received flowers before.

"Sweetie, please don't make me rip that card from your hands…" Angela stated in a tone that signified that she was not in the mood to be subtle.

Brennan opened the card and read it.

"And…" Angela prompted.

"They're from David," Brennan quickly placed the card back in the small envelope and placed it in the pocket of her lab coat.

"So, this is date number three, right?" Angela's dark eyes shone brightly with the query.

Brennan turned back to the remains and attempted to regain her focus. "Yes..third date…now, what I was saying is that the right femur shows trauma that had significant time to heal before…"

"David? Online internet guy David?" Booth interrupted.

Brennan sighed. There was no point in even trying to discuss her findings at this point. For some inexplicable reason the state of her love life had everyone's attention.

"Yes, that David. Our schedule's have not really meshed but we managed to have a lunch date and then a dinner date," Brennan conceded.

"Oh, well…good. Good for you. Cause you know, like I said, I wouldn't want to ruin anything for you…" Booth mumbled as he absently picked up a pencil and began fiddling with it.

"And now, date number three!" Angela announced with a triumphant tone.

"Ange, we've established which date…" Brennan began.

"Sweetie, do you understand the significance of date number three?" Brennan's blank look told her everything. "Okay, this date will decide whether the relationship goes forward…like to the bedroom…or David joins the list of guys shot down before they even get to first base."

"First base? What does that mean?" Brennan threw a quizzical look in Booth's direction.

"Bren, you remember when Jessie Kane was in your office?" Brennan nodded as Angela continued. "Well, he was trying to slide into first when I walked in."

Booth felt the pencil snap in his hand as his face grew red with anger. The squint squad looked over at Booth with a mix of apprehension and fascination.

"This is gonna be good…" Hodgins whispered to Zack.

"Jessie Kane tried to kiss you!" Booth exploded. "Why the hell didn't you tell me about that?"

"Because it was none of your business," Brennan answered calmly.

Her matter-of-fact tone incensed him further. "None of my…? He was a possible suspect in the disappearance and murder of his own father! Do you go around letting all of our suspects kiss you? Hmm…? Oh, because we shouldn't forget Aurora, should we! Every man with a pulse in a fifty mile radius was pumping you for 'information' !" He threw quotation marks in the air as he said the word information, prompting a giggle from Angela. He glared at her and then placed his attention back on Brennan.

She crossed her arms and glared at him. By all outward appearances, Brennan appeared to be calm and in control. Inside was a completely different story—she was fuming and ready to throttle Booth where he stood. "Booth, I think you need to leave the lab now," she stated coldly.

"Oh snap," Hodgins whispered.

"Leave?" He placed his hands on his hips and stared at her in disbelief. "You seriously want me to leave?"

The squints looked at Brennan, who had not moved an inch, and then at Booth, who was a weird mixture of disbelief and anger. Neither of them was budging and the scene was becoming more and more awkward.

"Okay, fine, I'll leave. I'll go back to my office where it's not 'nerd central'." He began to storm off angrily. "Don't forget to water your garden!" He gestured toward the bouquet of flowers as he walked off of the platform and out of the lab.

"I won't," Brennan said to his retreating figure.

"Good!"

"Fine!"

Brennan turned back to her coworkers who had watched the last part of the scene unfold with their mouths agape.

She slipped the latex gloves off of her hands as she ordered Zack to finish cleaning the remains. She gathered her notes and walked to her office.

Angela arrived two minutes later carrying the bouquet and wearing a knowing smile. "Um, where do you want these?"

"You can have them. Flowers are an impractical gift…"

"Whoa, whoa. I don't want to hear that these are an impractical gift, Bren. They're flowers and they're beautiful and a really hot guy sent them to you. Why don't you just admit what's really bothering you?"

Angela sat down across from her friend. She knew that she would either help guide Brennan to a realization that everyone else was aware of or she would bear the brunt of the eye rolling denials that Brennan had perfected.

Brennan looked up at her. "What are you talking about? The only thing bothering me is that Booth was being a complete jackass."

Angela laughed. "Okay, this is a start. Why do you think he was behaving that way?"

Brennan leaned back in her chair and sighed. "Angela, you know how I feel about psychology.."

"Yeah, and I know how you use that as an excuse to not open up to people. And it keeps people at arm's length, doesn't it?" Angela leaned forward and stared at her friend. "But Booth has gotten past a few of those walls you've built, hasn't he, Bren? He's not content to stay at arm's length, is he? In fact, Booth has forced his way into your heart—whether you want to admit it or not."

"Angela!" Brennan scoffed.

"And you've managed to find your way into his heart! Why do you think he went all ballistic?"

"Because he's Booth."

Angela shook her head. "God, Bren…I wish you would stop denying yourself the pleasure of living…of loving! Booth is a good man. He saved your life. And I believe, from what I just witnessed in the lab, he's realized his feelings for you."

Brennan stared at the top of her desk, refusing to look at her friend.

"Sweetie, go on your date with David. Enjoy yourself, but think about what I've said, okay? I know it's scary to think that someone climbed over a few of your walls…but how can you not love the person who made it and has stuck around?"

She got up out of her chair and walked out of Brennan's office, leaving a very conflicted anthropologist to struggle with the feelings that she'd known about for weeks. The moment she thought she had lost Booth in that explosion, her heart had shattered. She could only equate the pain to the worst pain she'd ever known in her life—losing her parents. Her heart had never fully recovered from that loss at the tender age of 15. She knew that if Booth had died in that explosion, she would have closed off her life and her heart forever. As it happened, Booth was the person who was finally getting her to open up and come out from behind those walls that Angela had mentioned.

Brennan had attempted to convince herself over the past few weeks that a simple physical attraction did not merit a relationship. She knew a physical relationship with Seely Booth could never be just recreational…and that's what scared her.

Brennan shook her head as if that would clear all thoughts of Booth. She had a case to attend to and a murder to solve. The fight between her heart and her brain would have to wait.

**9 pm, Agent Seely Booth's apartment**

He sat on his couch, watching television and drinking a beer. He had kicked himself mentally for the thousandth time since he'd left Bones in the lab earlier. Booth realized he'd made an ass of himself at the lab. 'Maybe I can claim it was the pain meds combined with a lack of sleep,' he thought to himself as he took another swig of beer. 'Or maybe I can just cop to being an overprotective, jealous ass and be done with it.'

Booth glanced at the clock and noted the time. "They've probably already had dinner. I bet David's at her apartment, kissing her…not talking to himself." He ran his free hand through his hair as he thought of Angela's play-by-play on dating.

_"And on occasion I sleep with them."_

Booth groaned with disgust as he imagined Temperance's body intertwined with Mr. Internet Date David's. A loud knock on his door gratefully interrupted the image.

Booth ambled over to the door and was shocked to see Bones standing on his doorstep, her hands stuffed in her jacket pockets and shuffling her feet to stay warm.

"Temperance?" He was shocked to find her on the other side of his door.

"Booth. May I come in?"

"Yeah, absolutely. I'm sorry. It's cold out there, huh?" He quickly moved aside, allowing her access into his home.

"Yes, it's cold," she agreed as she removed her scarf and jacket. He noticed that she was wearing the same clothes she'd had on at the lab earlier in the day. 'Did she go on her date?" he wondered silently.

"Is, um, everything okay?" He took her jacket and scarf from her.

"I brought over my notes on the case since we didn't have a chance to discuss my findings before…" Her voice trailed off as she looked at him.

"Before I turned into the incredible asshole?" He finished for her.

Brennan smiled slightly. "I was going to say 'the incident' but yeah…your wording works just as well."

Booth chuckled. "Bones, I'm…well, I'm sorry. I was out of line. There's no excuse for the way I acted or the things I said."

Brennan sighed heavily. "No excuse?"

"None. I was just an idiot. And I hope 'the incident' didn't put a damper on your date."

"I cancelled my date with David." Brennan looked down at her hands, which she was rubbing together to try to regain some semblance of warmth and to keep them from shaking.

"Why? It wasn't because of what happened earlier, was it?"

"No….and yes." She sighed again. This was not going the way she had planned. She had intended to confront him on his feelings and then they would discuss in a rational, logical manner why becoming involved would be detrimental to their partnership. Instead, he had opened his door, looking all rumpled and handsome and she'd forgotten every sensible, rational, logical reason they shouldn't be together.

Booth grinned at her. "So which is it Bones? Yes or no?"

She looked up at him and tried to read what was in his eyes, besides obvious amusement at her discomfort.

"I was speaking with Angela after you left…and she…I….rationally, I just don't…" Brennan couldn't concentrate on which thought to start with.

Booth placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her toward him. "Bones, just say it, please."

"Angela said you acted like a jackass because you have feelings for me," Brennan said in a soft voice. "Actually I called you a jackass…"

"She's right." He watched as she lifted her head and looked at him. He saw the mixture of fear, sadness and anticipation in her light blue eyes. He desperately hoped that she wouldn't retreat from this.

'But she came here…she made the first move,' he thought.

"She's right?" Brennan whispered as fear gripped every part of her.

Booth nodded, noting that fear now outweighed the other emotions. "Temperance, I need to know…the feelings that I have…do you have some of the same feelings for me?" He whispered, hopeful that her flight response would hold out.

Thoughts were swirling around Brennan's head at breakneck speed. "We can't do this Booth, no matter how we feel about each other…"

Booth shook his head. "Why?"

"If it doesn't work out, our partnership would be ruined and all of the good that we do together."

"Yes, together Bones! We can make it work!" He sighed, frustrated at her for being so reasonable.

She placed her case notes on his coffee table. "Booth, I'm just not ready for…whatever this may be. I'm sorry. I thought that maybe I could go five minutes without overanalyzing the situation, but…"

"You took a big step here, Bones. For now, I'll take it. But since this is out in the open, I'm not going to hide what I feel anymore. I can't."

She refused to look at him. He swept a lock of her hair away from her face and kissed her cheek. She simply nodded and retrieved her jacket and scarf as she walked toward the door.

"Bones," he called after her. She turned and looked at him. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She nodded. "Tomorrow. Goodnight Booth." She closed the door as she left. Brennan stopped and stood on his porch, briefly pondering whether she should go back inside and give in to her feelings for Booth. Somewhere along the way he had found his way into her heart. 'Dammit, why does Angela always have to be right!' she thought.

Booth watched her from his window. He smiled as he watched her struggle between turning around and coming back to him or leaving for the "safety" of her home. He shook his head and laughed as her rationale won out and she left his doorstep.

He sat down in front of the television again.

_"And on occasion I sleep with them."_

'Not anymore Bones….now it's just with me,' he thought to himself with great satisfaction.


End file.
